Attorney general's request includes new patient complaints

The Minnesota attorney general's office moved Tuesday to expand its lawsuit Tuesday against Chicago-based Accretive Health Inc., including several more patient testimonials that allege that the company demanded payment while they were receiving emergency care.

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson has accused Accretive of unsavory tactics in the collection of hospital bills that may have violated consumer protection and debt-collection laws.

She sued Accretive Health in January after a company laptop computer containing confidential medical information on 23,500 patients was stolen from an employee's car. The suit alleges the company violated patient-privacy, consumer protection and debt-collection laws.

Since then more patients of a large hospital system in Minnesota have come forward to complain, and on Tuesday, Swanson asked a federal judge in Minnesota to amend her suit. The legal documents she filed include 27 patient affidavits, said a spokesman for Swanson's office.

Timothy Palm, for example, alleges that he while he in the emergency room waiting to see a doctor for severe abdominal pain, a debt collector told him that he owed $800. He said he clearly was given the impression that if he didn't pay, he wouldn't receive treatment. The debt collector went through his coat, found his wallet and took out a credit card attached to his health savings account. Palm said he was later taken into surgery to remove his appendix.

Accretive said in a statement: "The state's proposed amended complaint contains no new causes of action and no additional requested relief. The state has merely added selected allegations from its April 'compliance review,' which contain numerous mischaracterizations and distortions of documents and facts. The company plans to move to dismiss the seconded amended complaint in its entirety."